News
Brantford-Brant

Opponents say strong support for Jan. 30 decision

A report by Norfolk County staff says the seniors' centre on Pond Street in Simcoe requires at least $2 million in repairs and the building should not be considered for use going forward. JACOB ROBINSON/Simcoe Reformer

Norfolk council’s silence this week spoke volumes about the prospects of a multi-million dollar recreation hub in Simcoe.

Council members have fielded constant feedback on their decision Jan. 30 to shelve the hub concept.

If anyone was having second thoughts, Tuesday’s meeting provided an opportunity to discuss reconsideration. When Mayor Charlie Luke brought the gavel down at the end of the meeting, the silence on the issue was actually the verdict.

In an interview, Luke said he approached the five councillors who voted against the hub concept to see if any would sponsor a motion of reconsideration. There were no takers.

“They all tell me they are not in favour of revisiting the recreational hub,” Luke said. “That tells me the hub concept is finished at least until we have another council in place.”

Based on the feedback they received, the five feel vindicated in their decision.

“All councillors are being bombarded by phone calls and emails in favour of the recreation hub,” Columbus said. “We’re also being bombarded by calls and emails that the right decision has been made. It’s a huge decision involving a lot of tax dollars.”

Sonnenberg said the calls and emails he’s received over the past two weeks are running five-to-one against the proposal.

“People are very much in favour of how I voted,” Sonnenberg said. “The idea of a single-location multi-use hub is too expensive for me. It’s not a priority.

“My first priority is a new seniors centre. My second priority is an improved swimming pool. We’ve done a lot of work in the (Simcoe Recreation Centre). I went through that building recently and it’s in pretty good shape.”

The concept of a recreation hub gathered momentum last year after council and county staff realized that aging recreation infrastructure in Simcoe was due for millions of dollars in repairs in the near future.

Rather than plow this money into old facilities, some suggested building a recreational hub in one location accessible to the majority of Norfolk residents.

Proposed facilities include a double-pad arena, a pool built to Swim Ontario specifications, a seniors centre, and a community gymnasium with indoor walking track.

Several Norfolk councillors said Tuesday that the county has a hard time justifying the expense of six arenas in a municipality with 64,000 residents without building new capacity in Simcoe.

Coun. Geysens and Haydt said residents of west Norfolk fear construction of a recreation hub in Simcoe will translate into the closure of the arena in Langton. Geysens added that some hub supporters have taken the Jan. 30 decision hard.

“There are people from the Simcoe area who’ve been nasty,” Geysens said. “That doesn’t help. We need to take a time-out to see what happens.”

Haydt said Port Rowan-area Ward 1 is overwhelmingly against the hub concept, which comes with a price tag in the range of $50 million.

“They don’t want to pay for something they’re not going to use,” Haydt said. “They want the facilities we already have properly maintained.”

For his part, Coun. Brunton says Norfolk County has enough financial challenges without taking on a big project like this.

Brunton noted that Norfolk has about $60 million worth of water and sewer projects in the queue and a network of reserve accounts that are “in rough shape.”

Brunton is especially leery of the idea of building a new swimming pool. He said a state-of-the-art aquatic complex will cost at least $10 million and would be among the county’s most expensive facilities to operate.

“If the user groups want a new aquatic centre, tell them to start fundraising for one,” Brunton said.